Syracuse Crunch assistant coach Rob Zettler has learned a lot of Xs and Os from playing 569 games in the NHL. Jim McGregor/The Post-Standard

Former defenseman Rob Zettler always tried to take a craftsman’s approach to a pro career in which he hammered out 569 NHL games.

Those handyman skills remain valuable in his first season as an assistant coach with the Syracuse Crunch.

Zettler has the right touch when it comes to building props for the team’s skills drills. He hinged together a pair of long planks at a right angle which can be placed anywhere on the ice and used as rebound boards.

He assembled another simple device known as a bridge, a contraption where a three-foot strip of wood is anchored to short blocks at either end. Players stickhandle pucks back and forth underneath the plank, honing their quickness and dexterity.

“I can get by on the basics. Anything too complicated, I leave to the pros,” he said of workmanship. “It’s a way to add something different to the practices. It breaks up the monotony of practice. You try to bring different things to the table.”

Zettler, 44, has seen and been around enough to carry an equipment bag full of such tricks. Most are easily accumulated garnishes, however. His most important contribution to the development of the Crunch is the element that underscores any teaching — credibility.

That sprouts from more than just his previous nine seasons as an assistant coach with San Jose and Toronto, and from all the NHL shifts he took before those gigs. It’s a badge he’s earned with young players by the way he clawed for a spot in the NHL, lost it several times, and then reversed his career momentum for one last bow at the top.

“I hope it does (carry weight),” Zettler said. “I think I’ve got a pretty good feel of what it takes at both levels (NHL and the minors). It’s not just strapping on the skates and playing hockey. You have to think about it, think about what you have to work on. Guys these days are pretty serious about their job.”

Yet Zettler understands how job insecurity can invade a young player’s mind. He was a regular NHL blueliner for Minnesota, San Jose, Philadelphia and Toronto from 1990-97.

Then, as he got older, a little rain started to fall. Zettler skated in 30 IHL games in 1996-97, and spent almost a full year in that league in 1998-99. He dropped by the AHL for 23 games in 1999-2000, and 36 more the following season.

“I never found it tough,” Zettler said. “I always felt like, this is what you have to do to make it back (to the NHL). If I’m not in the NHL, there’s a reason for it. What’s the reason? You work on it.”

Zettler went under the hood of his game with enough resolve to lift it back to the NHL for the entirety of his final season, in 2001-02. At age 33 played all of his 49 games with Washington.

“That was a big goal for me,” Zettler said of the farewell season.

“That’s the first thing that (head coach) Jon Cooper mentioned to us. That shows a lot of character from the guy,” said Syracuse defenseman J.P. Cote. “And you can see why. The guy knows his hockey. He’s got an understanding of the game that I’ve rarely seen.”

Much of that was learned from setbacks. Zettler was swept out of Toronto by the housecleaning in that organization last year. He had never coached in the AHL before but when the Lightning talked with him about the Crunch job he did his homework on Cooper and decided he’d be a great new boss.

“I’ve learned a ton from Jon. It’s been a great experience for me,” Zettler said. “I think in the NHL, it may be a little more specialized (as an assistant coach). You wear a couple more hats around here. But again, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to come down here.”

Zettler said he tries to instruct his new pupils the same way he taught himself. Appropriately enough he starts in construction mode, asking players what they think they bring to the table and suggesting how they might build their games toward the NHL.

“Guys these days are pretty serious about their job,” Zettler said. “You look at the shape they come in, the work they put in practice. Is everybody going to make it? Probably not. If I see someone doing something, I can say, ‘That may not work up there.’ Or, ‘It may work up there.”’

Zettler may soon be in a position to call all the shots as a pro head coach for the first time. Cooper is a rock star among potential NHL coaching prospects, a proven winner at lower levels who could be first in line for a promotion somewhere if he carries the Crunch deep into the playoffs.

If Cooper doesn’t return behind the Syracuse bench next year, Zettler would be an obvious choice to take charge.

“What I think about is making these players better and making this team better, and letting the chips fall from there,” Zettler said. “I’m here to help Jon. Good things will happen from that. Right now, I have no idea what they are.”